The US economic recovery continued to make major gains under President Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress this week; with US consumer spending hitting heights not seen in over nine and a half years.

“The surge in consumer spending reported by the Commerce Department on Monday sets a stronger base for growth in consumption heading into the second quarter after it slowed sharply in the first three months of the year,” writes Reuters.

“It further allayed concerns about the economy’s health, which had been brought to the fore by a temporary inversion of the U.S. Treasury yield curve last month,” adds the author.

The strong economic data comes on the same day the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hit a new record for intraday trading.

“This may be the busiest week of everything in terms of catalysts,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities. “It makes sense for us to be sideways heading into that at best.”